The Osceola times., 1887-02-05
THE WEED NUISANCE.
why All Plants Should BE Treated -
Weeds when Growing Where Not

why All Pinnts Should ne Ire3teo -
Weeds When Growing Where Not
Wanted.
Any plant, however valuable. grow.
ing where it is not of economical value,
is as worthless as any weed. In fact,
any plant growing where it is not
wanted is weed, for the word weed is
simply a relative term, 1t being nom
sense to assert that any plant is WORTH
less, although to ones sense it may
seem so. All plants, then, in certain
situations, may be considered as weeds,
and as the converse all plants in their
appropriate places are valuable. As an
instance, mustard, rape, the vetch. etc.,
are plants of great economical value.
Nevertheless, growing among crops,
they are the most annoying Of weeds,
the Canada thistle perhaps excepted.
In fact vetches under the name of tares
are mentioned in the Bible as a vexa-
ton when growing in grain.
In days ride over the State Of
Illinois by railway the traveller, not
farmer, might naturally suppose mus
tard to be one of the most widely culti-
vated plants. Field after field may be
seen yellow with its bloom in the
proper season. 1t is most wildly found,
not because farmers want it, but be-
cause it has crept in, some with grain,
and is persistent in retaining its hold in
the soil. In fact it was reported last
season that Cinnamon in California had
made money separating the seed of the
mustard from the wheat crop. Never
thcless wheat and mustard are two
crops not profitable to grow together.
Any good farmer seeing the unthrift
of weedy fields in journeying through
acountry carries away with him an uu-
favorable impression of that region
and its people, and very properly so.
All the land occupied by weeds is so
occupied to the detriment of the real
crop The expense of preparing tho
soil, sowing, harvesting and thrashing
is a fixed cost, and however weedy the
crop, there is no diminiton in this ex-
pense, If there is six per cent. OF
weeds in the crop the probability 10
there will be no profit in the outcome.
In any event the loss of profit is in
exact proportion to the waste Of soil
from weeds. 1t makes really but little
difference what the foul crop is. In a
wheat crop, rye, barley or oats are as
much weeds as any Improbable seed.
Weeds in the soil are not the only
loss the slack farmer has to contend
with before the crop is finally sold.
There is another kind of weed-the dirt
and other foul trash left in the grain,
and which some persons fondly seem to
think can be sold for the price of the
clean grain contained in the mass. 1t
never yet was done. Not only does
the buyer deduct price sufficient to
fully cover the loss from the trash, but
he also deducts a good round sum to
pay for cleaning. This often amounts
to ten per cent. and sometimes to fif-
teen per cent. of the price of good
clean grain.
One farmer by careful selection and
careful cultivation brings a grain or
vegetable to a high state of perfection.
His neighbors are all eager to procure
this "new variety at largely en-
HANGED price over that of ordinary seed.
In few years of slack cultivation the
crop again degenerates, and this class
of men are constantly saying that
seed soon "runs OUT and must be
changed. 1t is the man, and not the
seed, that runs out. If every farmer
would be as careful in the saving Of
seed as the careful man is of his cash,
there would be no running out of seed,
neither would fields be fou with weeds,
for care in the selection of seed would
soon beget care in cultivating, and thus
only the plants actually wanted would
be found growing in the fields.
Weeds have been called the lazy
mans relation. They are that, and
something more. They are the means
used by nature to cover the soil. And
this brings the matter back TO the ques-
ton of weeds. Man has taken for his
use such plants as are best adapted to
his use. Plants of value in one eli
mate may not be valuable in another.
Hence there they would be weeds.
The list of plants valuable to man and
the domestic animals as food and med
icine is very small in number in COM
parison with the botanical list of plants
of the world. They all have their use
in nature. Yet, because Nature uses
various grasses and plants to cover
otherwise waste places. there is no rea-
son why man should allow them to en-
croach upon his fields. 1t is good
time to ask yourself the question: Have
YOU used all the economical means in
your power to eradicate worthless
plants and cultivate well the bestp-
Chicago Tribune.